Black Summoner (黒の召喚士) is a Japanese light novel series written by Doufu Mayoi.It began publication online on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō novel posting website in October 2014. Overlap began publishing the series with illustrations by Kurogin under their Overlap Bunko imprint in June 2016. A manga adaptation with illustrations by Gin Ammo began serialization in Overlap's Comic Gardo website in January 2018.An anime television series adaptation produced by Satelight aired from July to September 2022.
Plot
Waking up in a strange new place with no memory of his past life, Kelvin learns that he's bartered away those very memories in exchange for powerful new abilities during his recent transmigration. Heading out into a whole new world as a Summoner—with his first Follower being the very goddess who brought him over. Kelvin begins his new life as an adventurer, and it isn't long before he discovers his hidden disposition as a battle junkie. From the Black Knight of the Ancient Castle of Evil Spirits to the demon within the Hidden Cave of the Sage, he revels in the fight against one foe after another.
Characters
Kelvin (ケルヴィン)
The main protagonist who is a reincarnated Summoner, the only S-rank summoner in the world. He bartered away his memories of his previous life to gain useful abilities; though only memory of himself, akin to
amnesia
. His current contracted servants are Clotho, Gerard, Melfina, and Sera. He is a "battle junkie", and gets extremely happy when fighting strong opponents, almost to a sadistic extent. This is proven when he orchestrated a full incident just to get a chance to fight the heroes. Despite that, he is very kind, training the heroes and helping people whenever he can. A natural
chick magnet
, Kelvin is in
romantic relationships
with Melfina, Efil, Sera and Ange.
Efil (エフィル)
Originally a slave, she is a Half-Elf, bought by Kelvin and trained to be a formidable Archer. She had a curse to set anybody she touches on fire, until Kelvin came and broke it. Like Melfina, she loves Kelvin and acts like the "second wife". She tends to be very possessive whenever a pretty woman hits on him. She is the perfect homemaker, even though they have maids, and is an excellent cook and seamstress.
Melfina (メルフィーナ)
The Goddess of Reincarnation, she is the one responsible for giving Kelvin his powers in exchange for his memories. Kelvin [before losing his memories] was so infatuated with her, he convinced her to come with him to his new world. As she is a goddess, she has a very high level, over 100. She is so strong that Kelvin himself, an S-rank summoner, could not summon her when he entered the world. Her true form was hidden, appearing as an interactive game menu until creating an artificial body for herself which Kelvin can summon. In her artificial body, she is shown to look like a very beautiful angel, with wings, light purple hair, and a white dress. She calls herself Kelvin's fiance/wife. She is a glutton, who even sleep talks about food.
Clotho (クロト)
Clotho is a contracted Slime used by Kelvin. He is the first monster contracted by Kelvin, and is immediately put to use by him to kill another slime. He has since evolved into a Slime Gluttonia, a monster almost as strong as Demon Lords. He typically acts like a very cute dog/animal.
Gerard (ジェラール)
He is a Blackghost Knight, bound to earth by the pain and anger of losing his wife and kids. He is Kelvin's second contracted monster. As of episode 5, he has evolved into an Abyssal Knight Commander. He sees and addresses Kelvin as "[his] King". Despite this, they work together as equals during quests. He respects Kelvin greatly, especially since Kelvin promised to avenge his family who were consequently killed by the actions of a certain nation. He tends to tease Kelvin about his harem, especially during awkward moments with the girls.
Sera (セラ)
She is the daughter of the former Demon King Gustav, who was sealed away for her safety. She was taught to become an Arcane Pugilist and became Kelvin's third contracted servant. Despite her age, Sera is like a big child, since the world is all so new to her. She's very playful and somewhat of a battle junkie like Kelvin. With Kelvin, she tends to be playfully smug and likes teasing him. Like the other girls, she also competes for Kelvin's affection, such as who will sleep next to him at night.
Ange (アンジェ)
Receptionist of the Adventurer's Guild in Parth. She is secretly an assassin meant to keep an eye on Kelvin as oversight from the Reincarnation process, though she ends up in love with him as well. This is the more awkward of Kelvin's romances as Ange does not know how to express love normally; all she knows is her fake persona and how to kill.
Rion (リオン)
A reincarnated Hero summoned by Kelvin, who he adopts as his sister; she previously died young from illness. Kelvin is secretly grooming her as a Hero, but lets Rion enjoy her life as she wishes. Rion loves fantasy stories, which is why she adapts to the new world easily. Her adventuring partner is a wolf named Alex, whom Kelvin tamed for her. Rion feels no shame in exposing skin, from her revealing adventurer gear to simply being naked out of the bath; Alex has to act as a censor bar.
Claire (クレア)
The owner of a tavern Kelvin stayed at until buying his house. She is like a mother to him, and like Gerard, teases him on his collection of cute girls. She taught Efil how to cook.
Tsubaki Fujiwara (藤原つばき)
The queen of Toraj, a very beautiful and bold woman. She is descended by other-worlders like Kelvin from Japan, which is why the nation resembles Japan heavily. Kelvin came to Toraj to secure rice, which she happily gave them after they caught a band of thieves and defeated a local boss. She is fond of Kelvin as well as Efil's cooking, so much so that she tried to seduce him to stay, but to no avail.
Media
Light novels
Written by Doufu Mayoi, the series was published online on Shōsetsuka ni Narō from October 6, 2014, to July 1, 2024.[2] The series was later acquired by Overlap, who began publishing the series with illustrations by Kurogin (and DaiXt as of volume 7) under their Overlap Bunko imprint on June 25, 2016. As of December 2025, twenty-two volumes have been released. In July 2020, J-Novel Club announced they licensed the series for English publication.[3] In August 2023, Yen Press announced that they would release print versions of the light novel.[4]
Volumes
Volumes
Manga
A manga adaptation, illustrated by Gin Ammo, began serialization in Comic Gardo on January 11, 2018.[57] As of February 2026, the individual chapters have been collected into twenty-four tankōbon volumes.J-Novel Club is also publishing the manga in English.[3] During their panel at New York Comic Con 2023, Yen Press announced that they would start publishing the volumes in print in March 2024.[58]
Volumes
Volumes
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced on February 17, 2022.It is produced by Satelight and directed and scripted by Yoshimasa Hiraike, with Miwa Oshima designing the characters and Michiru and Yuria Miyazono composing the music.It aired from July 9 to September 24, 2022, on Tokyo MX.[113][114][115] The opening theme song is "Atamannaka Dead End" (頭ん中DEAD END) by RetBear (unknown Vo:10fu), while the ending theme song is "Wherever" by Minori Suzuki.[116]Crunchyroll has licensed the series, and has begun streaming an English dub starting on July 23, 2022.[117][118]
Episodes
Reception
As of May 2021, the series has over one million copies in circulation.[123]
